the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 418 and the nays are one. 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise? >> madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that my name be removed from the list of co-sponsors for h.r. 451. the speaker pro tempore: without objection.

the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the house will come to order. members are advised to take their conversations off the floor.

the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the house will be in order. members and staff are advised to take their conversations off the floor. members are asked to vacate the well.

the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the house will be in order. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? mr. dreier: i ask that the house be in order, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order.

members are advised to take their conversations off the floor. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the speaker pro tempore: the house will come to order.

members are advised to take their conversations off the floor. the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: thank you very much, madam speaker. by direction of the committee on rules i call up house resolution 383 and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk had will report the resolution. the clerk: house calendar number 64. house resolution 383. resolved that during further consideration of the bill, senate 627, to establish the commission on freedom of information act processing delays as amended, pursuant to house resolution 375, the further amendment printed in the report of the committee on rules accompanying this resolution shall be considered as adopted. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for one hour and if

he'll hold on i would ask the house to come to order. mr. dreier: i'm holding on, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: to use your words, i'll continue to hold on for a moment. i still hear a lot of -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is correct. the house is not in order. the house is will come to order -- the house will come to order

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: thank you. the purpose for debate only, i yield the customary 30 minutes to my very good friend, the gentlewoman from rochester, ms. slaughter, pending such time i yield myself such time as i may consume and ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks and all time yielded will be for debate only. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. dreier: i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on the measure before us. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. dreier: madam speaker, it's now, as i began yesterday, when we launched the debate, it was exactly 3:00. it's one minute after 4:00 on

friday, july 29, and as we stand, as i am, or sit here as any of our colleagues are, we're exactly four days away, four days away from that august 2 date at which time the department of treasury has calculated that the federal government will run out of money. at that point we as a country will face impossible choices about what obligations to default on first. and, madam speaker -- the house is not in order, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is correct. the house will come to order. the gentleman deserves to be heard. the house will come to order. members are advised to please take their conversations off the floor. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the house will be in order.

the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: thank you very much, madam speaker. as i said with this august 2 date rapidly approaching, we know that we are faced with the potential of running out of money. we also mow that under that kind of scenario there are no -- we also know that under that kind of scenario there are no winners and no losers. we need to resolve the crisis at hand and avert the economic catastrophe that will come if we will not join together and find a way to raise the debt ceiling. but, madam speaker, this looming crisis is not the fundamental problem. we're facing this crisis because of a much larger, much longer term problem. the federal government spends more than it has. if you think about it, madam speaker, we don't have a debt ceiling problem.

what we have is a debt problem. the former cannot be resolved without addressing the latter. you can't address the debt ceiling issue unless you address the debt issue that is before us. that's precisely what today's process and the amendment that we are putting to the measure that we debated all day yesterday is all about. and the rule before us is moving us toward addressing the root cause of the problem. we're adding another layer of accountability, something that republicans and democrats alike talk about. it is being added to the plan that speaker boehner is moving forward. with the amendment that we're going to consider that this rule will make in order, the house will proceed with the critical business at hand. we will pass a bold and credible plan to rein in our

debt and responsibly avert the crisis that looms just a few days from now. it's extremely unfortunate that this process has become so lengthy and partisan. i think everyone feels very saddened at the fact that it's become such a lengthy and very, very partisan process. but, madam speaker, time is running out. today we have the opportunity to do our work and with passage of this measure we will be moving the process forward to help avert the crisis that we potentially faced on august 2. we will send the measure to the senate and as we all know this is the only proposal, this is the only proposal that when we pass it today that will have pass either house of congress. we need to have the support to do that. i hope very much that while many of my colleagues may not be supportive of all the provisions in the boehner plan

or on the other side of the aisle, i hope very much to move the process forward so that we can ensure that our constituents get those social security checks on august 3 since we all know the president in his july 12 speech said if we don't increase the debt ceiling by august 2 he couldn't guarantee the social security checks will go out. so to keep the process moving, to ensure we get those checks out and address the other very, very important priorities that we need to have funding for, we can pass this in a bipartisan way so that we can get to the senate, work out our differences as expeditiously as possible and come back with what clearly has to be a bipartisan compromise to ensure that we are able to decrease spending, getting to the root cause at the problem and at the same time do what we all know has to be done and that is to increase the debt ceiling. with that, madam speaker, i reserve the balance of my time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from reserve -- the gentleman from california reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from new york. ms. slaughter: and i thank my good friend from california, the chairman of the rules committee, for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and i yield myself such time as i may consume. i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlelady is recognized. ms. slaughter: thank you. madam speaker, today we face a self-inflicted crisis and the majority-proposed solution is no solution at all. the debt ceiling was created ironically to avoid congress to avoid every new issue of debt. madam speaker, the house is not in order. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is correct. the house will come to order. the house will come to order. members are asked to please take their conversations off the floor. the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: the debt ceiling was reasonably introduced to pay for world war i and was designed to be a formality that

will help our country and economy operate smoothly and without interruption. and all these years later it hasn't done that. the debt ceiling has outlived its usefulness. in fact, i believe that we should abolish the debt limit altogether and never face a crisis like this again of whether we will be a responsible country that pays our bills. only one other country has the debt limit and that is denmark. i think we can -- we can look at this as an ack rowmism from 1917 -- ack rowmism from 1917. raising the debt ceiling has never been a question. since 1960 the debt ceiling has been raised 17 times. there has never been no quid pro quo. no ransom and preventing default. that is until today. bringing our nation to the brink of collapse has been a

conscious decision of the majority part. placing ideology before country, they are demanding controversial and unacceptable cuts or else they are willing to let our nation default. we have been warned by the united states senate, the president of the united states that the proposed legislation will not be passed into law. they have said it repeatedly. they have said it clearly. yet, the majority continues to believe this bill can avert the danger of default. they're playing a dangerous came of chicken, asking the nation to give into their demand if we want the american economy to live to see another day. i simply cannot agree to the extreme demands being put forth by the majority today. after pulling yesterday's legislation from the floor, the majority has introduced a piece of legislation that demands the impossible. today's bill doesn't just require a vote on a constitutional amendment, it demands that before the six months when we have to -- face

default again that we vote on a constitutional amendment and that it be approved by both chambers of congress this fall. if the amendment doesn't pass, then we are not only facing the prospect of default again six months from now but we have even fewer options to avoid default. if previous proposals are any guide, the constitutional amendment would place the burden of debt reduction squarely upon the middle class, threatening social security, medicare and medicaid and members of congress will be given a sew fee's choice. do we protect medicare or do we avoid the amendment to avoid economic default? this is totally unnecessary. in fact, this legislation releases one hostamming and takes another. -- hostage and takes another. six months from now we will be forced to vote on a constitutional amendment and put this nation on the brink of

default. i refuse to prolong this issue. i think we need to come together to solve an urgent crisis that we are facing today. it's our duty to put the welfare of the country before all. that is why we were elected by the people who expect us to do just that. and that is what we swear to do. it is time we answered the call. i urge my colleagues to vote no on today's bill and urgently, urgently get back to serving the american people. we spent far too much time on this useless bill. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york reserves the balance of her time. the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: madam speaker, i yield myself 15 second to say to my good friend that i'd like to totally associate myself with her remarks at the end in which she said that it is absolutely essential for us to work together in a bipartisan way for us to resolve this issue.

i know this will come as a surprise. when she began her remarks and said we on our side are working overtime, making a conscious decision to bring our nation to the verge of collapse, that that is a slight mischaracterization of exactly where we are. with that, madam speaker, i'd like to yield two minutes, two minutes to my good friend from springhill, hard working and not too well rested member of the rules committee, mr. nugent. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida is recognized for two minutes. mr. nugent: thank you, madam speaker. i'd like to thank the distinguished chair of the rules committee, mr. dreier, for allowing me to speak. i'll be perfectly honest with you. there's a lot about this rule that i don't love. but quite frankly, we don't have much time left. we need to bet something done, and we need to get something done now. this rule provides us with the tools and mechanisms that we need to get our jobs done and bring our economy -- our country back from the brink of

default. default is not an option. the underlying legislation, the budget control act of 2011, saves us from default. most of all, i support the budget control act of 2011 because it means both chambers of congress must pass a balanced budget amendment before the president can raise the debt ceiling once again. do i like everything in the bill? no, i don't. does it do what the american people and the american economy need and deserve? yes, it does. and that's why i support both the rule and the underlying legislation. and with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida yields back his time. the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: madam speaker, i'm pleased to yield 1 1/2 minutes to the gentleman from michigan, the ranking member on ways and means, mr. levin. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized for 1 1/2 minutes. mr. levin: --

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. levin: the gentleman from california has been talking about moving the process forward. it does not move the process forward to pass a bill that's dead before arrival in the senate. it doesn't move the process forward to pass a bill. it is even more partisan than the one yesterday. you know, the country has to be wondering, we're one day closer to default and indeed one step backwards. the republicans are trying to squeeze out a majority here, and what they're doing is inserting the provision that requires a 2/3 vote in the senate and the house.

that's completely a nonstarter. the american public is looking for a solution, not a stalemate , and the house republicans have become the party of gridlock, passing this only increases it. and to move backwards. maybe to protect your -- but to protect america. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan yields back. the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: madam speaker, i yield myself 10 seconds to say to my good friend, there is a bit of disconnect from my perspective. so failure to act is not gridlock. passing legislation out of the house of representatives is in fact gridlock. with that, madam speaker, i'd like to yield a minute to my friend from cincinnati, mr. chabot. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio is recognized for one minute. mr. chabot: i thank the gentleman for yielding.

our national debt stands at a staggering $14.3 trillion, and we currently borrow more than 40 cents on every $1 we spend and our president and democrats in the other body say that a balanced budget amendment is, quote, dead on arrival. 15 years ago, the balanced budget amendment passed the house with a bipartisan vote only to lose by one vote in the senate. a constitutional amendment is the only way to ensure that future congresses live within their means and end the spending bing. our colleague, -- spending binge. our colleague, representative mcclintock, summed it up well he said imagine a family that earns $50,000 a year and is spending more than $88,000 a year and has a credit card balance of $330,000 a -- of $330,000. that's us. why is the president so afraid of making a commitment to

balance our budget? stop the spending. no more empty promises, no more excuses. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: i'm pleased to yield two minutes to mr. doggett. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. doggett: when the speaker failed to secure the votes for his misbegotten deal, i thought the republicans would want to get under way with a professional physical therapist to help heal the twisted arms and sprains as the pressure was applied to get the votes. but no, the professional obstructionists among the republicans have yielded for far less than a deep muscle massage. all they need is a meaningless vote on an amendment that is designed to fail. that they know will never

rewrite the united states constitution. -- the constitution, the way they would like to rewrite it to enshrine republican dogma into the supreme law of the land. i'll admit that through the years the balanced budget amendment has gained more interest on my part. it became much more appealing as i saw years of republicans entering wars without paying for them. insisting upon the mythology, no, indeed, it's really a political theology of republicans, that you can cut taxes, raise spending and everything will work out ok. their approach, even though their experts told us their tax cuts would drive us into deficit, they insisted on the political alchemy that they could take tax cuts and turn them into surpluses just as if they could turn hay into gold. if there were one vote i could

take about the george bush administration dripping in red ink, i would take it. but a constitutional amendment is not a solution, it's an excuse for not having a solution and the only reason it's being brought up this weekend is just to delay this crisis nearer and nearer to the precipice to which this republican irresponsibility has taken us. the credit worthiness, the full faith and credit of the united states is in danger by the refusal to adopt a balanced approach that would close tax loopholes and reduce spending all at once. that's what we need. instead of putting all the burden on the many, demand a little from the few at the top. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: i'd like to yield two minutes to one of our capable and thoughtful new members of the 112th congress, the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. meehan. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes.

mr. meehan: thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for the opportunity to speak. as we've been talking so much, i hear about a balanced approach. what we really need is a balanced budget. the concern right now as i talk to the many phone callers who are coming in is that america has taken the time to tighten their belts at home. and when you talk to business people, they've made the tough decisions. and they're looking to us now to make the tough decisions as well. and that's what i think this legislation has done. legislation which we can look at right now and put away the arguments from each side. the republican side and the democratic side. this is about america right now. the people who are calling in, who are watching, they're watching right now and greatly concerned because of the fact that they feel their economic security is at risk because we can't deal with the long-term implications of this budget and this debt. there is a plan. and the republicans in this

house have put together a plan. i'm not going to get into the partisan rhetoric. let us go around this plan, if we've got differences, let us resolve those differences effectively for the american people. let us get to work in this house, get it to the senate, pass it today, so we can get the good work done that allows america to get back to work with a sense of confidence in the future of our economy, get people back to work creating jobs. mr. dreier: i'd like to compliment the gentleman on his remarks and say as i listen to this newly elected member of the house, it's difficult to imagine he would consciously engage in an effort to bring our nation to the verge of collapse because we want to solve this problem and ensure that we can have a strong and

vibrant united states of america creating jobs and getting our economy growing. i thank my friend for his thoughtful comments. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter spm i'm -- ms. slaughter: i'm pleased to yield a minute and a half to mr. scott, a constitutional scholar. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia for one and a half minutes. mr. scott: thank you, madam speaker. this rule provides for debate of legislation that was slapped together behind closed doors providing for trillions of dollars in unspecified cuts. the final version was sprung on the house after being made public just this morning and now we are expected to vote the whole thing up or down without amendment in spite of the fact that 53 narts are already on record saying they'll oppose it. this legislation is in response to a manufactured so-called crisis. we can avoid default on our obligations the same way we've done it almost once a year over

the last half century, just increase the debt ceiling. and now this final version calls for default on our obligations unless we pass a constitutional amendment mislabeled a balanced budget amendment. the so-called balanced budget amendment reported from the judiciary committee does not require a balanced budget. in fact, it will make it more difficult to balance the budget and will certainly jeopardize social security and medicare. it will also include the provision that requires a 3/5 vote to increase the debt ceiling as if this week's drama isn't enough of a spectacle. madam speaker, we should end this manufactured crisis, increase the debt ceiling to avoid default and then seriously focus on legislation that will create jobs and restore fiscal responsibility. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from virginia yields back the balance of his time. mr. dreier: i'd like to reserve the balance of my time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter spm i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from new jersey, mr. andrews. mr. andrews: the gentleman is recognized -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. andrews: the inevitable consequence of this bill is when the united states wants to extend the debt ceiling to pay our bills, we will have to reduce medicare and social security. that's the inevitable consequence of the balanced budget amendments. therefore, inevitably, this will ill -- bill will not see the light of day in the united states senate. what we ought to do is get to our obligation, to come to an agreement to extend the debt ceiling and make a responsible down payment on our deficit. the president outlined a way to do that and that's what we ought to be working on. he talked about commonality between the two houses and the two parties on cuts in annual programs in the area of 5%, 6%,

or 7%. painful, but necessary. he talked about a fair process where a body that would act between the house and the senate would consider all the options with respect to entitlement programs, protecting medicare and social security benefits and looking at a contribution from the wealthiest americans, the form of revenue considered and voted on. that would get outous -- get us out of this period of uncertainty where we have not extended the debt ceiling as was done 17 times without condition for president reagan. seven times without condition for president bush. let's get on to the better idea of approaching the problem and fixing the problem for our country. vote no on this underlying bill and this rule and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from california continues to to reserve. the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: i'm pleased to

yield one minute to another constitutional scholar, a member of the judiciary committee, mr. watt. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. watt: i think this might be the worst resolution i've seen tpwhever house in the 19 years i've been here. it brings to continuing debate a bill that is already -- that has already been debated yesterday with an amendment but there's only one minute left in the the bait. and the change that is being made requires the passage of an amendment to the constitution of the united states in order to ever raise the debt limit again. the effect of that is that we have one minute, we don't even have it, the majority has the one minute that's left in the debate. we have no time left in the debate.

on our side to debate whether we will pass an amendment to the constitution of the united states that literally holds a gun to the head of the economy of the united states. we ought to be ashamed of ourselves, legislating in this way. this is a terrible way to legislate to provide for a constitutional amendment. if we're going to do it, we ought to at least debate it in good faith. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: madam speaker, let me continue to reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: i'm pleased to yield one minute to the gentleman from virginia, mr. moran. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia for one minute. mr. moran: mr. chairman, this is a self-contrived bankruptcy. a decade ago, the majority

party inherited surpluses as far as the eye could see. and then they promptly took away the revenue that enabled us to balance our budget. they crippled this country -- country with deep tax cuts. we have the lowest revenue we've had at any time since before medicare and basically at any time since the 1920's. and what this is going to do and the way we -- the reason we oppose this is if this was on the books, we never would have had the ability to rescue the world from the great depression in the 1930's. we never would have had the ability to win the war for democracy in the 1940's. we never would have won the race to space for the free world in the 1960's. we never would have been able to establish medicare and civil rights legislation in the mid 1960's. and certainly had we stuck with this kind of approach to government, we never would have been able to create 20 million new jobs as we did in the

1990's and reduce poverty, expand the middle class and create all those surpluses that the majority inherited. and promptly squandered. this is not the right thing for our country and that's why it should be defeated. thank you, madam chairman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: i'm pleased to yield two minutes to my friend gr glendale, arizona, mr. franks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. franks: mr. obama and the democrats have constantly and consistently said we need to take a balanced approach to the debt crisis fatesing america. but they steadfastly refuse to even consider the one truly balanced approach to this problem, that being a balanced budget amendment to the united states constitution. this effort today will be the second time that the house of representatives will have passed legislation requiring a balanced budget amendment which would actually create a permanent solution to this crisis and make sure that

economic freedom can be available for americans today and for future generations. yet, mr. reid said he will kill this bill as soon as it comes to the senate or at least strip out the balanced budget amendment in it. madam speaker, if we could get the president of the senate, mr. reid here, and the president himself, i guess we'd have to put out an a.p.b. on the president, we can't find him, he's awol in this debate. but if we could, i'd ask them two questions. first, what is your plan to deal with this issue? secondly, what on earth is so radical about having a balanced budget amendment to create a permanent solution to this problem? now, i doubt we'll get an apps, madam speaker system of today we will have to do as we have done before and we will try to proceed without them and try to do something truly historic that will save this nation and its people from economic rupe. madam speaker, not long ago, right after the constitution was finished, thomas jefferson

said, i wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to the constitution. i would be willing to depend on that alone for the reduction of the administration of our government to the genuine principles of its constitution. i mean an additional article taking from the federal government the power of borrowing. close quote. madam speaker, thomas jefferson was right and how i wish his contemporaries had listened to him about the balanced budget amendment but they didn't. but now, we have a crisis of $14 trillion facing us as a result of not having this amendment. and it could crush us in a way that no military power has ever done and at this moment in history in america we may get a second chance and i hope my colleagues will join us in this historic effort. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: i yield one and a half minutes to the gentleman from massachusetts, the ranking democrat on financial services mr. frank. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one and a half minutes.

mr. frank: we have a sad spectacle of a substantive mess brought to us by a procedural bigger mess. we can't entirely blame speaker boehner. we have seen him to be conservative yet somewhat responsible to a bill that no one thinks will solve a problem because it is a prerequisite of raising the debt to a constitutional amendment that no one thinks will pass. i remember speaker o'neil when i got here, and they have something in common and that's a theme song. it is "i will be with you in apple blossom time." speaker boehner's theme song is "it's my party and i'll cry if i want to," because his party has forced him to retreat first of all from the position he tried to take to get this thing done and secondly from the

promises he made procedurally. as a result of where we are with martial law rules and amendments not being done -- so we have a flawed bill brought to us by a weakened speaker under an unfortunate and undemocratic process. once the out of the way, once whatever impulses have driffer his own party driven to undercut him, maybe then in an adult way we can sit down and work this out. now, i suspect to vote for something i don't like because we ought to compromise, but this bill doesn't even begin to meet any kind of serious test. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: madam speaker, i'll reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlewoman from new york. ms. slaughter: i'm pleased to yield a minute and a half to the gentlewoman from maryland, ms. edwards. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from maryland is recognized for 1 1/2 minutes.

ms. edwards: thank you, madam speaker. i'm shocked. we spent 4 1/2 hours on the floor of the house of representatives reading the constitution and now we get to spend a minute debating it. pretty amazing how much the folks on the other side value the constitution of the united states. i am opposed to the rule, the bill, everything that's connected with it. we have approached this august 2 deadline, the markets have closed down yet one more time before this weekend begins. and president obama has been crystal clear. he said any agreement to increase the debt ceiling has to extend to 2013. yet, here we are considering something that the president has said is a nonstarter, the senate has said is a nonstarter, the american people has said it's a nonstarter, and here we are again debating something that will never go anywhere. the republican majority really should be embarrassed. i mean, they are putting everything in jeopardy and leaving nothing up to the president to decide come august

2 when this debt ceiling deadline approaches. and placing at risk our retirement security, placing at risk our ability to get credit, our ability to get a home mortgage, all of that because of this recklessness. the bill that speaker boehner brought to the floor yesterday in this constitutional amendment -- and this constitutional amendment was drafted today just to please the far right elements of the tea party. i can't even believe we're here today trying to satisfy the far right when we're not busy saving the needs of the american public and the markets around the world. why are we voting on this plan and not one that has a fighting chance of avoiding default? i want to say, madam speaker, it's time for america to get businessy here, understanding that the republican majority is ready to injury ar dies our entire future -- jeopardize our entire future for this garbage and i yield. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: madam speaker, i

will continue to reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: madam speaker, i'm pleased to yield one-to the gentleman from virginia, mr. connolly. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia is recognized for one minute. mr. connolly: i thank my friend. madam speaker, the bill proposed last night by the house republicans set us up to fail and risk a catastrophic default. today's gimmick is more of the same. but to win over the crowd calling for default house republican leadership would now make disaster even more likely by including a constitutional amendment likely requiring a 3/5 vote of avoiding future default. that threshold will be impossible to meet today and in the future. their blind adherence to the demands of the default caucus stands in sharp contrast to the desire of most americans who, according to every poll, are demanding a balanced compromise. this bill is a blatant, cynical exercise and raw political

muzzle and nothing more. they're turning our founding fathers into deadbeat dads. i would respond by using speaker boehner's own words from last year, "hell no you can't." i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: i continue to reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: continues to reserve. the gentlewoman from new york. ms. slaughter: i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from maryland, mr. van hollen. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized . mr. van hollen: i thank my colleague. there is a little pattern emerging here. first, we had our republican colleagues walk out of the biden talks. then twice they walked out of the president. and then last night they said no to the proposal put forward by their own speaker. and that brings us to where we

are today. in order to accommodate the more extreme elements of the republican caucus, they had to change the bill once again. and now what they're proposing is ultimately we turn budget authority over to not to the elected representatives but to a federal judge who would ultimately decide how we're going to deal with our budget. you talk about passing the buck. you talk about not taking responsibility. now is the time to come together to come up with a reasonable compromise, not to move the party far apart. the last point, madam speaker, i want to make with regards to the deficit, we want to make sure we have a plan, a balanced plan to reduce the deficit, and i'm just waiting for my colleagues to say, my colleagues on the other side to say that they're willing to get one penny, one penny from eliminating taxpayer subsidies to the oil companies or closing corporate loopholes for jets,

just one penny for the purpose of deficit reduction, then we'll know that they're serious about that. the president said, let's do $3 in spending cuts, $1 in revenue. but apparently asking $1 of revenue by eliminating the subsidy for the oil companies, that's too far. oh, yes, we owe china. we need to do something about our debt to china but asking the oil companies to take less taxpayer dollars, federal taxpayer subsidy dollars? no, we can't do that. let's be serious about balancing the budget and getting the deficit under control but let's do it in a balanced way. this proposal takes us farther in the wrong direction, doesn't bring us together to solve a problem for the american people. now is the time to get serious. thank you, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: madam speaker, at this time i'm happy to yield two minutes to a very hardworking member of the committee on appropriations my good friend from houston, texas, mr. culberson.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for two minutes. mr. culberson: thank you, madam chairman. i think it's very revealing in the debate today that the american people can see that the opposition to the proposal before the house is we're attempting to even suggest that there be a balanced budget amendment to the constitution. not any specific amendment. we want as a constitutional conservative majority to see a vote in the house and the senate on a balanced budget amendment to the constitution, something i've co-authored since i got here in 2001, yet the minority is strenuously objecting to that. the minority objects to our objective to control the debt and deficit by controlling taxes, objects to strong spending caps in the future. it exempts anyone over the age of 55, they are exempt under the paul ryan budget, they are exempt under the proposal that speaker boehner has brought to us today. the speaker has attempted to find the largest possible cuts with the strongest possible and

enforceable budget caps that could pass a democrat senate in order to get it on the desk of the president before the august 3 deadline. the speaker and this new constitutional conservative majority is doing everything in their power to avoid a default while hong the trust that the mation -- honoring the trust that the nation put in us with the landslide election. the nation spoke decisively in electing this new majority to the house. we were sent here to control spending, to control the size of the government, to get the government out of our lives, out of our pockets and back he bounds of the tion as designed by the founders and we've attempted to do that and i applaud speaker boehner for working so diligently to find the largest possible cut that could possibly pass a lib rat democratic control -- temporary liberal controlled democratic senate. if you can get 60% to 70% of

where you need to go to get the economy back on track and avoid the brick wall that alies of us on august 3, we need to do so to avoid a default. i urge all the members to support it. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: madam speaker, i yield a minute and a half to the gentlelady from texas, a member of the judiciary committee, ms. jackson lee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from texas is recognized for 1 1/2 minutes. ms. jackson lee: i thank the gentlelady very much. last night the democrats were here waiting while the republicans could not get their own conference together. any of you were watching the national news, it was not because we were not ready to vote and to move forward on a compromise, it was because those who believe that had a landslide victory are still talking about elections instead of talking about the american people. this is the worst bill that any american could ever imagine in the history of this nation. i tell you that because this

bill will in fact default the american government in six months. and it will not adhere to the constitution which says the declaration of independence is the promise and the constitution is the fulfillment. we actually have the authority, mr. president, under the 14th amendment to raise the debt ceiling by way of acknowledging that the public debt should always be recognized. but in this particular legislation, in six months if we do not cut by $1.6 trillion and pass a balanced budget amendment the nation will default. and the balanced budget amendment is not by majority. it is 60% of this congress will stop the american people from receiving their just due. we will no have social security, we will not have medicare, we will not have medicaid. actually, the mandate will cause us to support the republican study budget which

is $9 trillion in cuts, 70% of discretionary funding. that means all of your medicare, all of your medicaid, all of your social security. mr. speaker -- madam speaker, i ask the american people to call in and say stop the madness and compromise. do what is right and, mr. president, if not, raise the debt ceiling under the constitution. you have the authority. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. members are reminded to direct their comments to the chair. the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: madam speaker, at this time i'm very pleased to yield one minute to one of our thoughtful, hardworking new members of this congress, the gentleman from manchester, new hampshire, mr. gunta. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new hampshire is recognized for one minute. mr. gunta: thank you, mr. chair, for yielding. thank you, madam speaker. what i want to say to the american people is, let's stop the spending. let's not call the president or the congress to say stop this madness. call this body and say stop the spending because we have a

$14.3 trillion debt. we have a $1.6 trillion deficit. most americans know and appreciate that that is not sustainable. so we, today, through the will of the house and the work over the course of this week and past several weeks have a piece of legislation that is responsible in that it cuts spending, caps future spending, requires the balanced budget amendment so the country can finally have a voice, have a voice in how people in this body spend taxpayer dollars. it's time for us to tell the american people the truth about how their money is being wasted. it is time to stop that spending. it is time to get responsible and serious, and we are here to do that, not just my freshmen class but this congress is here to do that, and i ask my friends from the other side to join us in that fight, to protect taxpayers and vote for this bill. i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: i'm pleased to yield a min and a half to the gentlelady -- a minute and a half to the gentlelady, ms. cap tur. ms. kaptur: i rise against this rule and the underlying bill as inartful dodges. when a patient is weak, do you pull out their feeding tubes or let them get stronger? when they have trouble breathing, do you shut off their oxygen machines? this economy is hampered by two wars and tax cuts to the rich who didn't create jobs with it. what does the majority do to the patient? they pull out the tubes and

they now shove them down the elevator chute. no political party has tried to hurt america when she is recovering by edging toward default. it's already caused hundreds of billions of losses in the stock market, pension funds, annuities, social security and medicare checks are threatened and jobs are stalled because of the uncertainty in the market. america needs a congress and president that focuses on economic recovery and job creation. to the lewd oneself otherwise is to take one's self down a proverbial back hole. these amendment trucely dodge the real question which is full economic recovery for the people this country. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: madam speaker, may i inquire of my good friend

from rochester how many speakers she has remaining? ms. slaughter: i believe i have two. mr. dreier: in light of that, mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: i'm pleased to yield one and a half minutes to my colleague from new york. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. mrs. maloney: we have all been getting numerous phone calls from our constituents who are rightly worried that the interest rates will be going up on their homes, on their cars, on their student loans because they see that this congress is in chaos. already since last friday, shareholders and u.s. markets have lost over $400 billion in value just due to the uncertainty and the lack of

action. our constituents re-- our constituents' retirement funds have been taking a hit and will continue to until this issue is decided and we have less than four days. we must stop this republican roulette and get to work on a plan that is realistic that can pass both houses. this is a dangerous game, putting forward a partisan bill that each time it comes back is more partisan, appealing to a more narrow sliver of america. madam speaker, we need to rehave it a clean vote on the debt ceiling as we have done 78 times since 1960. and if we don't, the president should to his constitutional duty and raise the debt ceiling on his own under the authority of the 14th amendment. the republican leadership have

walked out on president obama, on vice president biden, on mcconnel, and even their own leader boehner. and then they want us to rehave it this in six months and put the economy in uncertainty. this is the wrong direction. i urge a no vote. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: i think the gentlewoman has one remaining speaker. i have three or four. mr. dreier: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for one minute. mr. rothman: i oppose the republican bill because it will have drasting cuts to social security, i also oppose the republican default bill because

it has tax breaks and loopholes for those americans who make millions and billions of income per year. i oppose the republican default bill because it calls for another default summit, another default crisis in six months. thereby undermining the certainty that american businesses, investor, and families need to create jobs and move our country forward. with only a short-term increase under the republican default bill, the full faith and credit of the united states will once again be held hostage to the differences in washington. the republican short-term plan that creates uncertainty will result in billions of dollars in increased interest rates that will hurt every single american and will hurt our country. i urge my republican colleagues to join with the democrat, join with president obama in creating a balanced plan with shared sacrifice that solve

ours deficit and eliminate this is cloud hanging over our economy. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: madam speaker, at this time i'm happy to yield a minute to the former mayor of one of the 10 most livable cities in the united states of america, the gentleman from rogers, arkansas, mr. womack. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. womack: thank you, madam chairwoman. i thank the gentleman for yielding some time. on my way to the capitol this afternoon, i was accompanied by some young people from my district and we were having a conversation about the debate going on right now in washington. the debate about the debt ceiling. as i explained to these young people that the current debt of the united states of america, their share of that current debt is well into the mid $40,000 range, $46,000 or so of debt, and it's for this very reason that we are proposing what we are proposing because the only way to keep this debt

on these innocent young people from soaring to greater and greater levels, an area that they can no longer afford, is to restrain, constrain government. and the only sure way to do that the only guaranteed enforcement mechanism that i know that can accomplish that very thing is a balanced budget amendment system of on behalf of these young people and on behalf of young people across america, let's quit piling more and more debt on our children and grandchildren. let's pass the rule, let's pass this bill. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: madam speaker, i'm pleased to yield one minute to the gentleman from georgia, mr. scott. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. scott: thank you, madam speaker. in my one minute, i want to make a special appeal that we pay close attention to what i consider the most devastating, damaging part of this bill. and that is what we are doing and what the republicans are

doing to social security, to medicare, and to medicaid. in this bill, it requires that we set up joint select committee. there are no protections in here. and it says in order for us to give the raise to the debt ceiling, we must concur and cut $1.6 trillion from the budget, from discretionary funding. the center for policy and budget priorities have said, that since 80% of the discretionary areas come from social security, medicaid and medicare, it doesn't take a genius to know we're talking about drastic cuts in this area. and they will come out to a tune of about $1,000 for each recipient. we have some people in this country who are hanging on by their fingernails. we have widows, we have

youngsters who are dependent upon social security. dependent upon medicare. and to say that in this measure that we will make these drastic cuts in social security and med air -- medicare is totally irrespopsable and for that reason, let us vote this measure down. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: madam speaker, i'd like to continue to reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: i yield one minute to the gentleman from california, mr. costa. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. costa: this rule and bill will draw a further wedge between the two parties. it's been a week since the bipartisan discussions over the $4 trillion grand deal broke down and we've seen little progress toward a solution since then. missing in today's debate is a bipartisan approach toward our nation's fiscal house. we must have a bipartisan approach. we can cut through this

partisan rhetoric with a balanced package. for me, that means implementing the simpson-bole regulation, lowering tax rates, ensuring solvency of medicare and social security and stabilizing our debt. the house should consider a clean balanced budget amendment, h.j.res. 2 which says the country can't spend more than it takes in. this must be coupled with a debt limit increase to get us through the next 18 months. it's time for cooler heads to prevail with the clock ticking down, our nation's first ever default is at hand. we cannot afford to wait a minute longer. default is not an option. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. continues to reserve. the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: madam speaker, i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from massachusetts, ranking democrat on energy and environment

committee, mr. markey. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for two minutes. mr. markey: i thank the gentlelady. the republican party deficit plan is very simple. number one, sent the -- send the financial markets into a nosedive. number two, drive up costs for home mortgages, student loans and credit cards. number three, spook businesses to stall job growth bringing the nation to the brink of economic collapse. number four, repeat it all again and again until election day, 2012. the republicans don't want compromise. they want capitulation. the republicans have brought to the floor a constitutional amendment to balance the budget. that's going nowhere. it is phony. but there's another, sinister constitutional amendment being debated here. it's very real. and it will cause our country to default on its obligations.

amendment 14, section 4, of the constitution says the validity of the public debt shall not be questioned. but this bill would change the constitution forever. forever. under this republican bill, our country would be pushed into defaulting on our obligations. the republican party would turn the 14th amendment from a guarantee into a question mark. now, under the republican bill, the validity of the public debt shall be questioned. that is what they are doing this weekend. this is unacceptable. and would have a disastrous effect upon our economy and the middle class. the only way to end this historic nightmare is to resolve another massive

deficit, the leadership deficit in the republican party. we must vote down this constitutional amendment which will have us not honoring the full faith and credit of the united states, which was built into the 14th amendment of our united states constitution. they are amending that constitution here this evening. they are leading us to a default which will be a violation of that constitution. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman continues to reserve. the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: i'm pleased to yield one minute to the gentlelady from california, ms. pelosi. the speaker pro tempore: the minority leader is recognized for one minute. ms. pelosi: thank you very much, madam speaker. i thank the gentlelady for yielding and commend her and her colleagues on the rules committee for their important work in bringing legislation to the floor.

madam speaker, the clock is ticking. now the clock is ticking on the need for us to raise the debt ceiling so that we do not the fault on our past obligations that we uphold the full faith and credit of the united states of america. as we continue this debate today, one thing is very clear to me. if our goal were to fund deficit reduction and a balance -- to find deficit reduction in a balanced, bipartisan way. we could certainly do that. we've had models, simpson bowles, gang of six, we've had the president's conversations with speaker boehner, we could find a path to very serious deficit reduction. but i think it has become very clear that that is not the goal of the republicans in the house of representatives. they keep moving the goal post, making it very evident that

their goal is to reduce the public role in the lives of the american people. that's why our legislation on the floor, like the interior bill that's been debated today, you see -- you see abandoning, clean air standards, clean water, food safety. i've said before, i come to this congress as a mother and grandmother. we all want to do the best for our children personally but we need a public role. their education. again, clean air, clean water, food safety. we can't do that for ourselves. but part of this is to unravel -- the republican plan is to unravel 50 years, five decades, at least, of bipartisan proimpress on behalf of america's middle-class family. flat out, flat out that this bill and the other bills

accompanying it will end medicare, will end medicare, will say to seniors, you will pay more for your health care costs, to get less so we can give tax breaks to -- we can give tax subsidies to big oil. we will say to those families we are going to cut medicaid and what that means to seniors in nursing homes so we can give tax breaks to corporations sending jobs overseas. we are going to say to young people, you are going to pay more for your college loans so we can give tax cuts to people at the highest end. we all know that we have to participate in reducing the deficit. everybody has to ante up. why is it that the republicans insist on having the middle class pay the price so that the high end is off the hook? if we are concerned about addressing the problems of the american people, we would end this debate. this bill is going nowhere. it's a total waste of time.

and every day that we spend on these wastes of time that are not going anywhere is another day we are not talking about the highest priority of the american people which is job creation, job creation, job creation. that is their priority. we have an obligation, an obligation to reduce the deficit and get on with it so we can create jobs. if we are concerned about the economic security of the american people and their families, we must recognize that since the republicans' most recent walking away from the table -- they've done it on more than one occasion but last friday when the speaker of the republicans walked away from the table, since that day the stock market has dropped 483 points. the american people have lost over $400 billion in their personal assets, $400 billion,

and every day that goes by and that the market goes down any more it comes right out of what the american people have. have in their 401-k's and pensions and their children's savings. so i remember when we had the debate on tarp, we cooperated with president bush at that time to bring legislation. very unpopular. probably the most unpopular vote that any of us would ever take. we were on the brink of a financial crisis and we had to act but the republicans did not step up to the plate and the market went down. well, 777 points the next day. is that what they're waiting for, for the market to go down not 484 points in the last few days but hundreds of points more, diminishing the personal assets and wealth of the american people? i certainly hope not.

you know, when the speaker walked away and he made his statement, speaker boehner, our speaker said we couldn't reach agreement, words to that effect, we couldn't connect because we had different visions of america. well, i believe the speaker when he speaks, but i don't believe we had different visions of america. president obama's vision of america is one where we are committed to the education of our children so they can reach their personal fulfillment in our country, our innovation will continue to be number one. that we are created to have good-paying jobs for american workers. i think that vision is the vision of the american people, the high ground of where we share values. the education of our children, jobs for our workers, the big any find retirement and health security for our seniors and a personal safety and national security for our people, all

done in a fiscally sound way. i think that that's common ground on the high ground of values. and if you believe that, if you agree with those values, as i think speaker boehner must agree with president obama on that vision of america, you couldn't possibly vote for any of the legislation that the republicans are bringing to the floor in these few days. you couldn't possibly because they do, they do undermine the education of our children, the financial and health security of our seniors, the deep cuts early on curtail, hurt the economic recovery and the creation of jobs. and it isn't in the fiscally sound way. we've taken revenue off the table. 57% of the american people, at least, think we should have a balanced, bipartisan agreement

to end this default and to do so in a way that doesn't take us down this path again. so let us -- let's be clear. what is on the floor today, balanced budget, balanced in what way? balanced in whose favor? it looks like a see saw to me in favor of the halves at the expense of the great middle class in this country. it must be rejected. for every day we waste on another republican ideological ploy or scheme is another day that we are not creating jobs. since the republicans took office, which is over 200 days ago, last saturday it was 200 days, going on 207, the only bills that they have brought to the floor which they claim to be jobs bills are not job creators. they are job losers. job losers. h.r. 1 loses about 700,000 jobs. h.r. 2, a similar number, h.r.

34, a similar number. nearly two million jobs lost. almost 10,000 jobs a day they're losing and their infrastructure bill that they had brought into committee and not voted on, thank god, is estimated to lose another several hundred thousand jobs when it's supposed to be the big job creator. even the chamber of commerce has rejected it. something that will not only create jobs but will lose current jobs. so let's get on with the business of job creation. let's really be honest with what we're here to do in terms of deficit reduction. not lose it as an engine for the destruction of the public role that is so important in the defense of our country, in the health of our children, the security of our seniors in their retirement, about the vitality and innovation of our

economy and, again, to do it in a way that is fiscally sound. i don't want to go into how we got into this in the first place. we must go forward the way the american people want us to do. bipartisan, balanced and with an eye to job creation. reject what is on the floor now and support the american people. we owe it to honor the sacrifice of our founders, the vision of our founders, the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform, the aspiration of our children and their families. this budget should be a statement of values that honors all of that. and if we are to honor that we must reject what is being proposed here today. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentlelady has expired. the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: mr. speaker, i'd ask my friend if she has any other speakers. ms. slaughter: no, i am

prepared to close if mr. dreier is. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: thank you, mr. speaker. i think the consequence of this bill are so dire and in circumstances, this constitutional amendment are so far reaching and damaging that i implore everybody in the house of representatives in the name of the founding fathers and in the name of our soldiers fighting for this nation, think of our children and generations yet unborn. i implore you vote against this rule. i have never felt this way about it before. the process and everything about this is wrong. they are making it absolutely impossible. it's time for us to meet our obligations and we really should not besmerch the reputations we have as thoughtful legislators by voting for this. i urge a no vote on the rule, the underlying bill and i yield

back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: may i inquire of the chair how much time i have remaining? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california has 15 minutes remaining. mr. dreier: and, mr. speaker, i wish to close now. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. dreier: mr. speaker, we began this debate at one minute after 4:00. it's now 11 minutes after 5:00. i urge my colleagues to support this rule and the underlying legislation so that as august 2 approaches we will be able, we will be able to say we have reduced the size and scope and reach of government and we've not allowed our country to go into default. with that i yield back the balance of my time and move the previous question. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the previous question is ordered. the question is on adoption of the resolution. all those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the resolution is adopted. the gentlelady from new york. ms. slaughter: i ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device.

this will be a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 239. the nays are 187. the resolution is adopted and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the house will be in order. members, please take your seats.

the house will be in order. pursuant to clause 1-c, proceedings will now resume on s. 627 which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: an act to establish the commission on freedom of information act processing delays. the speaker pro tempore: when proceed prgs postponed on thursday, july 28, 2011, the gentleman from wisconsin, mr. ryan, had one minute of debate remaining on the bill. pursuant to house resolution 383, the further amendment printed in house report 112-187 is adopted. the chair recognizes the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. ryan: mr. speaker, the house is not in order. the speaker pro tempore: the house is not in order. the gentleman is correct. the gentleman is recognized. mr. ryan: mr. speaker, i yield the remainder of my time to the gentleman from ohio, the speaker of the house.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized from ohio. the speaker: my colleagues, i'd like to cut through all the fog here rather quickly. today's report on the economy reminds us that our economy is still not creating enough jobs. americans are worried about finding work. they're worried about our economy, and they're worried about the mountain of debt that's facing them and their children. today, we have a chance to end this debt limit crisis. with this bill i think we're keeping our promise to the american people that we will cut spending by more than the increase in the debt limit. the congressional budget office has certified this commonsense standard and has been backed by more than 150 distinguished economists from across the country. we're also imposing caps to restrain future spending so we

can stop the expansion of government while giving our economy a chance to grow and to create jobs. and we're advancing the great cause of a balanced budget amendment to the constitution. what this bill now says is that before the president can request an additional increase in the debt limit, two things have to happen, a joint committee in the congress must produce spending cuts larger than the increase in the debt limit and both houses of the congress must send to the states a balanced budget amendment. listen, a balanced budget amendment, it is -- it's time for this to happen. it enjoys support in both houses of this congress and it enjoys bipartisan and widespread support across our country. the bill also ends this crisis without raising taxes which

would cripple our economy and there's no gimmicks. there's no smoke screens here that represent the old ways of doing things. now, the bill before us still isn't perfect. no member would argue that it is. it's imperfect because it reflects an honest and sincere effort to end this crisis by sending a bill over to the senate that at one time is agreed to by the bipartisan leadership of the united states senate. and to my colleagues in the senate if they were here, i would say this -- if this bill passes, this house has sent you not one but two different bills that cut spending by trillions of dollars over the next decade while providing an immediate increase in the debt ceiling. and to the american people i would say, we've tried our level best. we've done everything we can to find a commonsense solution that should pass both houses of

congress and end this crisis. we tried to do the right thing by our country, but some people continue to say no. my colleagues, i have worked since the first week of this session when we were sworn in in january to avoid being where we are right this moment. two days after we were sworn in, the treasury secretary sent us a letter asking us to increase the debt ceiling. i immediately responded by saying we would not increase the debt ceiling without serious cuts in spending and serious reforms to the way we spend the people's money. we passed a budget. the other body, it's been over 800 days and no budget, no plan. this is the second bill we've sent over to the senate and yet

not one piece of legislation out of the senate that's passed that deals with this crisis. and my colleagues, i can tell you that i have worked with the president and the administration since the beginning of this year to avoid being in this spot. i have offered ideas. i've negotiated. not one time, not one time did the administration ever put any plan on the table. all they would do was criticize what i put out there. i stuck my neck out a mile to try to get an agreement with the president of the united states. i stuck my neck out a mile and i put revenues on the table in order to try to come to an agreement to avert us being where we are. but a lot of people in this town can never say yes. a lot of people can never say yes. this house has acted and it is

time for the administration and time for our colleagues across the aisle put something on the table. tell us where you are. and, yes, people can be critical of what we've done, but where are the other ideas? at this point in time the house is going to act and we're going to act again. but it is time for our colleagues across the aisle to tell us what they're for, tell us how we can end this crisis. you know, ronald reagan has been quoted throughout this debate over the last few weeks and ronald reagan would probably be flattered, i'm sure, if he were here, but ronald reagan on his desk had a

little plaquered and that plaquered said something simple. it said, it can be done. i have a replica on my desk. i tell you, members of congress, it can be done, it will be done if we have the courage to do the right thing. so for the sake of our economy, for the sake of our future, i'm going to ask each of you as the representatives of the people of the united states to support this bill, to support this process and end this crisis now.

the speaker pro tempore: all time for debate on the bill has expired. pursuant to house resolution 375 the previous question is ordered on the bill, as amended. the question is on third reading of the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. third reading. the clerk: an act to establish the commission on freedom of information act processing delays. >> mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from new york seek recognition? >> i have a motion to recommit at the desk. the speaker pro tempore: is the gentlewoman opposed to the bill? >> oh, yes i am opposed to this bill. the gentlewoman qualifies. the clerk: ms. hochul of new york moves to recommit -- >> i reserve a point of order.

the clerk: ms. hochul of new york moves to recommit the bill to the committee on rules to amend section 403-b-3 at the end following a new clause, prioritizing deficit reduction from corporate subsidies before cutting education. the joint committee shall first consider the elimination of, one, oil and gas subsidies for the major integrated oil companies and, two, subsidies for corporate use of aircraft before cutting essential education programs that are necessary for the creation of jobs, economic recovery and investment in america's future. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from new york is recognized for five minutes in support of her motion. ms. hochul: thank you, mr. ms. hochul: well, here we are. >> the house is out of order. ms. hochul: the eyes of the world are upon us. the eyes of the american people are upon us.

but most importantly, the eyes of the people who put their faith in us in sending us to this institution are certainly upon us. and as we engage in this debate, i will say just one thing that is clear to me, that everyone in this room loves this great country, loves this country. america has stood the test of time and risen above disasters as one people. in the last decade alone, rattled by wars, unprecedented natural disasters, the longest recession since world war ii. as we approach the 10th anniversary of 9/11, we are reminded of what we can do when we pull together. we are a resilient people. but, mr. speaker, never, never in this history has there been an intentional disaster

perpetrated by the very people who were sent to be the caretakers of this country. and that is exactly what will happen if we refuse to take action, prevent default and pay our nation's bills now, not six months down the road. i understand that a spirited debate in defense of one's viewpoint, certainly. but when i look down at the copy of the constitution that i keep on my desk, i thank god that our founding fathers had it in their hearts to give and take and yes compromise for what is in the best interest of this country. i can't go back to the hill view restaurant on transit road in lancaster and look into the eyes

of my seniors and tell them we didn't get this job done, that we decided to continue this game of political chicken to dangle defaults cruelly over the heads of our citizens, businesses and economy and hold it hostage while we kicked this can down the road again. mr. speaker, am i supposed to tell the greatest generation that when they passed us the torch, we dropped it because we couldn't compromise? and that is why my amendment is a simple statement of america's priorities. it says before we cut our education for our children, that we first must cut subsidies to big oil and corporate jets. this amendment is one of our last chances to affirm the values that bind us as a nation. i know one of these shared

values is our sense of obligation to create a better world for our young people to inherit and give our people a better chance to achieving their dreams. the next generation will be more prosperous and more secure, but only if we invest in it now. in the human capital, whose creativity, innovation and work ethic can ensure this country remains a world leader and beacon of hope to others. but this is all at risk. speaker boehner's plans results in consequences that i can't imagine anyone in this room really wants. on top of the unconscionable uncertainty, it will leave this economy with a temporary fix and we are putting investments in education that are so critical to our young people to compete with china, india and europe on the global change. my amendment is about priorities, the priorities of the people we represent, because

i face slashing programs for seniors, young people, middle class, all because we are afraid of the influence of big oil? that is wrong on so many levels. i come from a family of entrepreneurs. my mom started a small business and my father helped grow a business from four to 3,200. i get it. i have tremendous respect for companies to have grown to that size. if they have a corporate jet, i don't begrudge them. that's great. but we agree our deficit must be reduced and why can't we ask them, people with big oil and corporate jets give us a hand and make this country great. you know, a hardware store in a county in my district, how is it they pay more in taxes than the big companies that are shipping

jobs overseas? i can't explain that to that family. i cannot do that. and my constituents are hurting in upstate new york. some of them at the time of huge corporate profits can hardly afford to fill their gas tanks. there is one value we share and that is fairness. it is fundamentally unfair. the time of the gentlelady has expired. ms. hochul: i will finish very briefly. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentlelady has expired. the gentleman from california. ms. hochul: i do want to reach out our hand -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: i wish to claim time in opposition to the motion to recommit. ms. hochul: i yield back the

balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california withdraws his reservation. my colleagues on the other side. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman withdraw his reservation? mr. dreier: i would like to withdraw and claim time in opposition to the motion to recommit. mr. speaker, this doesn't prioritize social security, it doesn't prioritize medicare, it doesn't prioritize veterans, doesn't propose one item that would cut spending. all it does is engage in class warfare and increase taxes. vote against the motion to recommit. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. all time has expired. without objection, the previous question is ordered on the motion to recommit. the question is on the motion. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no.

in the opinion of the chair the noes -- >> i ask for a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: a recorded vote is requested. those favoring a recorded vote will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 28 3rk the nays are 384.

the amendment is not adopted. dethe motion is not adopted. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. >> i ask for a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: a recorded -- vose favoring a recorded vote will rise. a sufficient number having risen a recorded vote is ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 the 15-minute vote of passage of the bill will be followed by five-minute votes on motions to suspend the rules and pass h r. 2213 and h.r. 789 if ordered. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: the yeas are 218, the nays are 210.

the bill is passed and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. the unfinished business is question on suspend the rules and passing h.r. 2213. the clerk: 2213, a bill to designate the facility of the united states post alpha silt located at sergeant sergeant vaughn post office. the speaker pro tempore: will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill. so many favor say aye. those opposed, no. the rules are suspended and the bill is passed and the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. >> i ask for a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the

national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 420 the nays are zero. 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table.

the speaker pro tempore: without objection, five-minute voting will continue. the unfinished business is on the question of suspending the rules and passing h r. 789 which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: h.r. 789, to a bill to designate the facility of the united states postal service in little ferry, new jersey, as the sedget matthew j. fenton post office. the speaker pro tempore: those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. without objection, the bill is passed and the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table.

the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. will the gentlemen please clear

the well.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? the house will come to order.

requests for one-minute speeches. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from ohio rise? >> to speak for one minute and revise and extend. mrs. schmidt: mr. speaker, just tonight, we passed the debt ceiling vote and in it, it had a critical feature, that requires accountability in our house, a balanced budget amendment. every day, millions of americans sit at their kitchen table figure out how to pay their bills. but before they write that check and determine how much they have to spend out of that checking account, they have to balance that checking account to know how much money is in it.

but we don't do that. we don't balance our account. we don't know how much money is in there. we just spend money. the american public -- the speaker pro tempore: the house is not in order. please take your conversations off the house floor. schmidt smd the american people expects accountability from us. in order to have that accountability, we need to do what 49 states and that is pass a balanced budget amendment. the first of the series of steps tonight and it is the senate's turn to pass that and have both chambers pass it and have the majority of the states ratify it. this is what the american public wants. they want us to balance our checkbook just as we do theirs. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: any further requests for one-minute speeches. the gentleman from ohio is

recognized. >> thank you, mr. speaker. there is something missing in this entire debate. mr. ryan: over the course of the last 0 years in the 1970's, if you would have seen the income of the top 1%, it accounted for 9% of real income. today the top 1% accounts for 25% of real income. the top 400 wealthiest people in the united states of america pay a tax rate of 17% while the fellow in youngstown, ohio, is paying a much higher tax rate and the sky is falling and the republican party wants to make these huge decisions about how to fix our country. we need the wealthiest in our country to become patriots and step up to bat and help us solve this problem. everyone is being asked to sacrifice, the military, the middle class, children going to

college with pell grants, all being asked to sacrifice but for the top 1% of the wealthiest people in this country. it is absent from this debate and irresponsible for us to continue this process without asking the wealthiest in the united states of america who have been blessed to live in this country to help us solve this problem. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland rise? >> address the house for one minute and ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, this evening is a moment in history, very -- in very few times this house vote to advance an amendment to the u.s. constitution, but we did it today. and the gentlelady from ohio, she just talked about what americans talk about at home. it's about balancing your checkbook. it's about not spending more

than you take in. we don't have a problem with too few taxes here in washington, we have a problem with too much spending. mr. speaker, we still borrow 41 cents out of every dollar and we are borrowing a lot of that money from the chinese. what this bill we passed tonight will put us on a trk too pass a balanced budget amendment what americans are calling for. permanent accountability from washington. no more spending tricks, no more budget gimmicks, do what every american family and business has to do, just balance our budget. mr. speaker, i yield backs. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the chair would remivende all persons in the gallery they are guests of the house and any manifestation of approval or disapproval of the proceedings is in violation of the rules of the house. for what purpose does the gentleman from washington rise?

the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, the house has acted. no time for celebration. it's not over yet until it passes both houses, the american economy is not safe. standard and poor and moody's announced to the university of washington and to seattle and to king county that if there is a default on tuesday, these institutions in my state go on the credit watch list for downgrade because they received money from the united states government and there's no certainty that the united states government is going to pay its debts. this is a question about whether the united states is going to be viewed in the world as being responsible and paying their

debts. it's not about the future. it's about what we've already contracted. and this house, led by the republicans, has put every state, every county, every city, every university that writes bonds for their financing at risk. it's going to cause people to pay more in the state of washington and in every other state because of this foolishness. we need a clean lifting of the debt limit. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 5, 2005, the gentleman from california, mr. garamendi, is recognized as the designee of the minority leader. mr. garamendi: thank you very much. i'm going to be joined by several of my colleagues and as they come to the microphone, let me just lay down some of the

facts. not more than an hour ago, this chamber voted on speaker boehner's proposal to deal with the debt limit. very interesting comment that he made prior to the speech and while i can't quote them precisely, he did say that his whole strategy started way back in january and when he told the president he was going to use the debt limit as a way of getting his way, well, we saw what his way is and that's what was voted on today without any support at all from the democrats. and a lot of republicans saying that it was not the right way to go. so what did he propose? we have two very, very basic paths that are facing the american public today. one of those paths is a path that we voted on, which is a path to basically unravel most of the things that america holds

dear. in order to carry out the caps and the $2.5 trillion reductions that are in that legislation, we would have to decimate medicare. there is no way it could continue to provide the services to our services and similarly medicaid, which 70% of that money goes to seniors in nursing homes. those two critical parts of the foundation of the american society that is providing health care to our seniors are going to get unraveled as a result of the legislation that passed. similarly, there's no way to meet those spending reductions without going after social security. the other path is one we have suggested on the democratic side and we will talk about those two today and that is the path that maintains the pillars of the

society of america and express the value of our country and one that cares deeply about our citizens, whether they are aged, seniors, who may need medical care and who may need social security and medicare or young children and those in between that need jobs. that's the path that the democrats have offered in the budget that we have put forth on this floor and we voted on. that was our recommendation on how to move forward. it failed without any republican support, but it spoke to the values of our nation that we have held dear for many, many years. i would like to start with my colleague from oregon. peter, you would like to share remarks with us this evening. mr. defazio: thank you for helping to organize this response. we do have one real and prevailing crisis in america that has been with us now since 2008 and that's the jobs crisis.

there are probably 20 million americans who are unemployed, underemployed in this country when you get to the real numbers. now a credible economist say if you could find a way to put those people back to work and get unemployment down from 9.6 to 4.5%, that would solve a quarter of this deficit and debt crisis. that would be $2.5 trillion over 10 years. the republicans here have proposed $2.7 trillion of cuts over 10 years. so if we could put people back to work, we would have about the same savings. then, you know, if we got people back to work and healed the economy a bit, all we have to do and i talked about this earlier this week is nothing. let the bush tax cuts expire.

go back to the good old days of bill clinton, $3.8% unemployment, paying down debt, the rich paying their fair share because those job creators were paying some taxes. oh my god, billionaires required to pay taxes to a rate equal to janitors. oh, what a disaster. they are not only cutting programs and ignoring the jobs crisis but making the jobs crisis work. last week, they ended the federal aviation administration construction program for safety and security. they stopped collecting the tax. republicans stopped collecting the tax. it's a user-paid-for system on airline tickets. most airlines see that is a

windfall. if we pass it through the consumers, sorry, suckers, they keep the money and you pay the same. the other thing is well, if we get rid of taxes, we'll create jobs. that's how you create jobs by cutting taxes. interesting. we have cut taxes on the airline industry by $30 million a day, that's well over -- that's a lot of money on a year's basis over $1 billion and we have lost 94,000 jobs. people in the f.a.a. make sure that taxpayers get a fair dollar and 90,000 private sector jobs across america and guess what, the american public doesn't know it yet, but this could well be to either opening the door to terrorist attacks because we don't do the security programs

or causing runway incursion because we don't finish it before the bad weather in the winter or don't get my landing instructions and the plane goes awry, but we are giving corporations the money and don't worry. we need to focus on jobs. there is nothing they have been doing here for the last six months, eight months, seven months, seems like 10 years, that has created a single job. in fact, they have cost us jobs and costing jobs and now they want to cut all investments in transportation by 35%. that's an immediate loss of 6 murks,000 private sector jobs and won't deal with the bridges on the national highway system or half of the pavement on the national highway system that needs redoing or the $70 billion

backlog for equipment for transit systems like the nation's capital and people are being killed, we won't deal with any of that and won't people to work to build new transit systems, new bridges. republicans say, we'll just give the corporations the money and the rich people the money and they'll trickle down on the rest of us. well, we have been trickled down for way too long and time for new priorities and i would reject the republican agenda. mr. garamendi: h garamendi: thank you, mr. defazio. the republicans seem to be just dismantling time after time. i'd like to turn to congresswoman betty sutton, our colleague from the state of ohio, who has seen the effect

of the cuts and what they mean in her district. so ms. sutton if you care to share with us your thoughts. ms. sutton: i thank the gentleman for his leadership. he's been a stalwart. boy, do we need leadership at this point. here we are, it's been 29 weeks, more than 200 days since the republicans took over the majority of the house and not only have they not done anything to create jobs or help working families, here we are today, looking at what they have done. what have they done? after walking away from the table five times in negotiations to restore our neigh's fiscal house, the house republicans have passed a bill today to kick the can down the road so we can continue to have this debate over again in a matter of months. but make no mistake, this is a political dodge. republicans could not agree on a long-term solution within

their own ranks, so they just decided to take a vote on a bill that kicks the can down the road, that they know there is not support for and it's a part of this pattern. what have they been doing in this over 200 days? they have an agenda that aims to end medicare that guts medicaid, that has threatened social security, and while at the same time -- they've even targeted energy efficient light bulbs. they've used time in this body to do all of these things, while at the same time fighting to preserve tax breakers in wealthy, for big oil, and for companies that ship jobs overseas. when at this time, we know that we have a jobs deficit in this country. there is nothing more important that we can do than to, of course, of course make sure

that america pays their bills, but the most important priority facing our nation is to get america back to work because we can't solve that long-term deficit problem without people having jobs. and frankly, the american dream doesn't live if we don't have opportunities for families out there to go to work and take care of those that they love, to send their kids to college. that's another thing the republican agenda has targeted. to put college out of reach again of so many middle class families. i'm glad to be here with the gentleman from california, my other colleague -- and my other colleagues, to make sure we explain to the american people that there are people who get it. people who know that the number one priority is to put people back to work. to focus on building our infrastructure. to strengthening u.s.

manufacturing because we know that we have to be a country that makes things, that makes things made out of american iron and steel and manufactured goods. that every time you have a manufacturing job, there is a ripple effect of four more jobs or if it's in the auto industry, it's 10 more jobs. we know that if we are not a country that manufactures things, then we are at the mercy of those who do. it is incumbent upon us to stand up, to make sure that we focus the agenda. we've got to stop this political theater. deal with getting the debt ceiling issue dealt with for the long-term. not for six months. not for six months and be right back at this again, leaving the american people to wonder, seniors to wonder whether they're going to get what they need in their social security

checks. veterans to wonder whether they're going to get what they need. we really, really know that the priority has to be on jobs and we implore our republican colleagues to join us. 200 days is too long. 200 days is more than the american people and the american families that i am so honored to serve can take. we must focus on getting people back to work. mr. garamendi: it is about jobs. there are very few economists that support what the republicans put together today. most economists say the only way to get the nation back to a balanced budget is with full employment, getting people back to work, and that is the make it in america agenda. let's turn to mr. perlmutter from the great state of colorado, he has some concepts

an ideas to share with us. mr. perlmutter: i thank my friend from california and the gentlelady from ohio. as they say, the best way to pay the debt this nation has incurred is for people to work. all of a sudden you've got revenue coming in an you don't have to pay unemployment, you don't have to pay a lot of medicaid, you don't have to pay cobra and all these other things, you have revenue coming in and less expense going out. so one of the things about this nation is that it's always provided to those people who really are prepared to work, who are repair -- prepared to play by the rules, who take responsibility for their lives and the lives of their family members, a chance to get ahead. that's what america has meant to millions and millions and millions of people throughout our history. one of the reasons this country was able to provide that kind of a setting for all of us is because 235 years ago or so,

this nation went through a war, and after that war, the states banded together and said, you know what, we as a country will pay the debts of our revolutionary war. and this young nation paid its debts and became a strong nation overnight because it paid its bills. and so for 235 years now, we've been paying our bills. you bet. and that's why we've had the strongest credit, the full faith and credit of the united states of america for two centuries. my friends on the republican side of the aisle for the last three months or more have been putting that credit at risk. and i'd like to say there was a real reason for them to do that, but there's no reason.

when you've incurred a bill uric pay that bill. you don't say, you know what, we're not going to pay the bill unless some things happen in the future. you pay the bill and teal with the future separately. but not in this congress. not with this republican leadership. they tie it all together and said if we don't get our way, we're not going to pay our bills. baloney. that isn't how it works. what we've got to do is come together, the president has proposed a balanced approach to getting this country's fiscal house in order. let's not forget how we got here. 10 years ago, we had a surplus. a surplus. revenues exceeded expenses. so in these last 10 year we had two big tax cuts. that's a couple trillion dollars under george bush. a couple of big wars. which instead of everybody being patriotic and really assist the country, we borrow and do it on a credit card.

that's a couple trillion dollars. then we have a crash on wall street. another $2 trillion or $3 trillion. that's where the debt came from. i could lay the blame at the feet of the republican leadership and administration, but we are where we are and we've got to deal with it. it's got to be done in a balanced way. both the revenue side of the ledger and the expense side of the ledger. if our goal is to pay down the debt, you need more revenue and you need less expense. it's both sides. you can't just say, we're going to cut, cut, cut. we're going to take it out of medicare, we're going to privatize social security, we're going to eliminate early childhood education. you've got to deal with the expenses and we know that. but you've got to have revenue and in this instance, the republicans say you know what, we're not going to have additional taxes for millionaires and billionaires and some corporations with loopholes. no, that's offlimits. we are going to go after

medicare. we are going to go after social security, we are going to go after early childhood education. that's just not right. and this country knows it. every american knows that. so we've got to get busy, ladies and gentlemen, because we have work to do. if we're going to restore that american dream, we've got a lot of work to do. that's what democrats are going to do, from this point on, from this second on, every single day. we've got a lot of work to do and it's time to get busy. with that, i yield back to my friend from california. mr. garamendi: thank you, mr. perlmutter. you are so very, very correct. the american dream. you laid it out there very well. ability to take care, kids to school, good health care. the american dream, when you get old, you've got medicare and social security. that's foundation. however, what happened on this floor not more than an hour and a half ago will destroy that dream. now, we've got work to do. indeed we do. now i'd like to turn to my fren and colleague on the floor,

sometimes we call it the east coast, west coast show, my friend from new york, paul tonko. mr. tonko: it's a pleasure to join with you, speaking for your base in california, joining with our colleagues from colorado and texas and connecticut, ohio, virginia, myself from new york, across this country. we are speaking for the american public. the great populists of this nation are asking, where is the solution? where's the responsiveness to a job situation? a job deficit? a jobs crisis? the solution here, last night we saw it. we saw the drama unfold. not here on the house floor. but behind closed doors. we moved into recess. the republican leadership of the house said, we're going to move to recess. and we're fully anticipating a vote last night. in short order. but we waited for hours and

hours, and they didn't have the vote. and so, what happened? today, they moved for a measure that moved further from the center. took it to the extreme edge in order to get just by a vote to amass sufficient support for a very extreme solution that really kicks the can down the road, as representative sutton from ohio indicated. and it means that we don't have this long-term solution that builds confidence in the economy. but rather, a political response. a political solution that brought enough votes to put into play measures that we know will not find support as negotiations need to come to conclusion in just a matter of hours. so this has been a disingenuous approach to a very serious issue. but what they're doing is destroying jobs because as you

kill the confidence within our economy by threatening this economy with credit ratings that could be reduced that call for greater interest payments, from car loans to mortgages to student loans to savings to pension plans, we're putting the people of this country, every household, regardless of income strata, economic strata, at risk. but -- an assault certainly on the middle class of this country. is that the right thing to do when we have this looming dark cloud of a jobs crisis? and how do we solve that? we do it by investing in programs that create jobs. and undo the programs that are outmoded, don't create jobs. and we make certain that there's an investment made in innovation, in clean energy, in manufacturing, making things here in america. taking ideas, moving them along, embracing the pioneer spirit of the people of this great land.

that's not being done. what they do is move to destroy some 700,000 jobs. they kill the confidence factor for the economy. they move forward with harmful measures that destroy our economic growth and end medicare. because what they're -- with their proposal we see it clearly, they would end medicare and transition social security into a privatized format. these are things that our phones have been ringing off the hook about. we have heard through the president's encouragement from several constituents, routinely through this debate of several weeks and months now, but enhanced over the last couple of days and people are very clear, couldn't be clearer, why do we come up a lesser priority than big oil, millionaires and billionaires? people are asking that question. and they have every right to. this is an assault on the values of the middle class of this country. it's a neglectful response to the jobs crisis of this country. it's moved us further away from the deficit situation with the

debt ceiling discussion by moving it to the extreme because the extreme of their party, in order to get their support, said over the last several hours, last half day, you want my sport? move extreme. don't move to the moderate zone. don't build a consensus. so now the consequences of their action puts this economy at risk and does nothing but reduce jobs rather than promote the investment that will create jobs. representative garamendi, it is aggravating, it's ignoring what the public's wishes are, and it's not responding to the challenges of the moment. this is a tipping point moment for the nation. this is a chance to reengineer the economy after a long and deep an painful recession and they're risking that by perhaps pushing us back into a recession, if not a full-blown depression. with that, i yield. mr. garamendi: what took place on the floor over the last couple of hours was a charade,

a theater. it had no sense of reality. there's no way that piece of legislation is going to move forward. you said it so very well, it became more an more radical with each iteration over time. it seems there's a small group within the republican caucus here that really doesn't want government at all. almost anarchist attitude of government is bad in every way. and then there's a same group in that kay cause that published a piece of paper, can it came from the leadership. one of the things they said they wanted to do was to bring down the president. well, we got an election coming up, to be sure, but to use the full faith and credit of the united states, i that is the honor and really the dignity to say nothing of the financial strength of this nation, to bring down the president seems to me to be unconscionable. mr. tonko: representative garamendi, might i just suggest that our goal here should be to build up a nation rather than bring down a president and it's shameful to even have that

acknowledged. mr. garamendi: that's certainly it. earlier this afternoon, earlier, before we started this one hour, one of our colleagues on the republican side brought up a nice little picture of a woman balancing her budget, presumably at home, and a check book and i thought, well, that's interesting -- checkbook and i thought, well, that's interesting. some 49 states have a balanced budget amendment and they balance their budget. earlier this afternoon i was talking to my friend from the great state of virginia answered said, let me just share with you how one state balances its budget. i thought you might want to bring that up. bobby rush. mr. rush: i would like to bring that up because the legislation -- >> i would like to bring that up because the legislation we considered today had a provision that required a constitutional amendment that is mislabeled. mr. scott: it's called the balanced budget amendment. well if you look at the provisions of the bill, not just the title, the provisions,

you'll find that it requires a 3 fifth -- a 3 fist vote to pass a budget -- a 3/5 vote to pass a budget that's not in balance. every balance will be unbalanced in the first year. so all you've done sin crease the threshold for any budget to be balanced. the republican study committee budget, which is probably the most conservative budget in terms of spending on the table, other budgets would probably cut the deficit just as much but all of those bills would require a 3/5 vote. now, remember when the clinton budget passed it passed by the thinnest of margins, we balanced the budget, we were on course to paying off the national debt, created a record number of jobs, the dow jones industrial average almost quadrupled. 50 democrats lost their seats had they voted for that bill. when you vote for deficit reduction you -- a lot of people

will be casting career-ending votes. increasing the threshold to 3/5 would just make it harder or even more impossible to pass. what you can get 3/5 for, but you need 3/5, any kind of budget could pass, could you have more tax cuts and we got 3/5 vote for the $800 billion tax cut back in december, a 3/5 vote -- you can pass new tax cuts and new spending. you can make a deficit worse under this balanced budget amendment and probably will. also consider it has a provision, 3/5, 2/3 vote to increase taxes. they'll rn -- that will obviously make it more difficult to balance the budget. 2/3 vote to spend more than 18% of g.d.p., a number we haven't seen since medicare was enacted. which means you're going to have pressure on medicare and social security. interestingly if you put all these things together you'll notice that you can cut social security benefits on medicare

benefits with a simple majority but to save those programs with new taxes, 2/3 vote in the house and 2/3 vote in the senate. and then to add insult to injury, it requires a 3/5 vote to increase the debt ceiling. as if the drama that we've been through in the last few days and the last few weeks isn't enough of a spectacle, they wanted to make that kind of thing routine where we'd have to go through this every year. we've had to increase the debt ceiling on an average once a year for the last 50 years. they want to go through this spectacle with a supermajority so we can have these kinds of problems all along. now, we heard during our consideration of the balanced budget amendment when we were in committee about arizona's balanced budget amendment and how well it works. and we kept hearing this over and over again so i thought, i wonder how they do that? so i googled it. mr. garamendi: excuse me. you said that arizona has a balanced budget amendment?

mr. scott: right. mr. garamendi: in their constitution and somehow they balance their budget. mr. scott: and i couldn't figure out how they could do it. there must be something in there. so we googled it, thanks for google, and we found out. first thing i found out is, with 6.3 million people, they got $6.4 billion of stimulus money that the federal government borrowed and then sent to them. $1,000 for every man, woman and child, $4,000 for every family. that helped them balance the budget. but you know, that wasn't enough. you know what else they did? they sold their state capitol and supreme court building. did you hear what i said? they sold their state capitol building for $735 million and sold the supreme court building for $300 million and leased it back. that extra $1 billion in the budget was necessary for them to balance their budget. mr. garamendi: excuse me for a second if i might interrupt.

one of the proposals coming from some of the republicans was to sell america's assets. do you suppose they intended to sell the u.s. capitol? mr. scott: well, the arizona state capitol was sold and leased back so there's no telling what they might want to do. but the really regrettable part of this is the process that we're in because we just passed a bill that provides for trillions of dollars in unspent -- unspecified cuts, they slapped a thing together behind closed doors, the final version was developed this morning after the bill had been debated where there was only one minute left in the debate and they changed the bill, they added in the balanced budget amendment and some other kinds of changes and sprung it on the house, we finished the debate this afternoon, voted up or down, no amendments and we took all that time doing it on a bill that 53 senators have already signed a letter saying they're going to

oppose as soon as it gets over there. now, i said unspecified amendments because they don't cut anything in their bills. there are no cuts. there are caps. so we don't know what the cuts will be because they're just spending caps. we will find out next month what they have in mind because that's when we'll find -- when we'll appropriate under the caps and find out what has to be cut. but we have an idea of what they might cut because earlier this year they had a bill of about $66 billion annuals i -- billion, annualized that would be by $1 trillion. if you want to know what a 10-year, $1 trillion cut would look like, we can see it. they cut safety net programs like community action agencies, legal aid, energy assistance for low income seniors, community health centers, w.i.c. nutrition, all cut. investments in our future, education, all kinds of

education programs including head start and pell grants, cut. job training programs in the middle of an economic downturn, cut. nasa and other scientific research, energy research, cut. high speed rail, investments in our future, immunizations in americorps, cut, and then routine functions of government that would you hope wouldn't have to get cut like air traffic controllers, they're working so hard they're falling asleep on the job, cops and firefighters, cut. f.b.i. agents, we spent the last couple of days in the judiciary committee talking about trying to chase down cases involving child pornography and we don't have enough f.b.i. agents to chase them down and what do they do? cut f.b.i. agents. clean water grants, poison control, aid to small ship yards, we have a lot of ship yards in my district, national parks, osha, occupational safety and health administration personnel cut, fema, with all the problems that we got all

over the country now, floods and everything, fema's cut. they talk about border security. border protection and border security cuts. food inspections, that's just a small sample of what they had in that and then they're going to go after -- the next bill they have they're cutting medicare. all of those cuts -- and that's just the first $1 trillion. i yield to the gentleman. >> i was just going to say to my friend. over the course of the last 10 years, we know where the debt really came from. it wasn't in early childhood education, it wasn't in national parks, it was in two tax cuts, a couple of trillion dollars or more, it was in two wars, at least a couple trillion dollars. and it was in a crash on wall street, when people were laid off and had to have some kind of assistance. obviously you said arizona needed assistance, $6.4 billion an they still sold their capitol. mr. perlmutter: i'd yield to my friend from connecticut because he has the chart that describes

it. >> thank you, mr. perlmutter, and thank you, mr. garamendi, for holding this. as john adams, our second president, once famously said, facts are stubborn things and this chart here, which is a chart which is using the congressional budget office facts and figures in terms of what happened to this country since 2002, which is, as my friend indicated, was the last time we had balanced budget in this country, and this chart shows that we have accumulated about $7.5 trillion in debt, $5 trillion of that was due to the policies of the last administration. mr. courtney: starting with iraq and afghanistan wars, two wars which, again, lots of debate about whether it was in our national interest, but in any case what is not debatable is that we never paid for a penny of either one of those conflicts. the bush tax cuts, $1.8 trillion . nondefense discretionary

spending, $608 billion. tarp, the wall street bailout, which a lot of people forget occurred under the last administration, a medicare drug benefit which was passed in 2005 which was never paid for, not a nickel of that benefit was ever paid for. we were either offsetting revenue or other -- with either offsetting revenue or other spending reductions. and the 2008 stimulus bill which the bush administration had presented, a lot of people don't remember the check they got sent during that time for, again, none of those expenditures were paid for and many of those expenditures such as the bush tax cuts and the iraq and afghanistan war are still recurring expenses which are still accumulating bills and debts which this country is obligated for. when the obama administration took office in january of 2009 they faced an economy that was in freefall, 800,000 jobs lost in january of 2009, obviously a crisis that needed to be addressed in terms of

counterrecessionary policies such as extending unemployment benefits and some stimulus which was to get work out there in terms of road and bridge construction projects, sewer treatment facilities, i'm cutting a ribbon, we're supposed to, on monday morning in my district for a plant which provided a lot of work for people. again, but nonrecurring expenses to deal with the emergency that we faced as a nation. and when you look at, again, the comparative cost of the policies of the bush administration and the obama administration and you think about the fact that we have these bills and expenses which have been accumulated by our nation since 2002, and yet we had a default debate here an hour and a half ago where the speaker, who by the way voted for every single one of those bush policies, from 2002 up until the president bush left office, stood on this floor, blamed the debt crisis that we face in our nation just on one administration, which again

c.b.o. clearly documents was far less culpable in terms of what the numbers show, again, just shows how really corrosive the parts san debate that's occurred under the 112th congress since this new majority took office. completely omitting the fact that eight times during the bush administration they voted to raise the debt ceiling to avoid default. under ronald reagan, 18 times we had clean debt limit increases and yet this administration, the obama administration, for the first time in american history is being held to a different standard. trying to deal with the debts and obligations of this country. the waiting -- rating agencies have spoken loud and clear in terms of the bill that was just voted on here an hour and a half ago, a short-term extension of six months is thumbs down from the rating agencies because they see that as just an -- this

coming december to go through the same instability that we saw this past week and that's not what our economy needs today. mr. scott: it's in that context, it's in that context that the actions of this congress have to be taken into consideration because last december we passed an $800 billion two-year tax cut, extending, not new tax cuts, ex tending the ones that were there. had we let them expire, which i think would have been better judgment, we would not have been in the situation we're in. we passed $400 billion a year tax cuts. we now have a general consensus that we need over the next 10 years $4 trillion, worth $4 trillion of savings, deficit reduction, about $400 billion a year, exactly the same as what we did in tax cuts last year.

all these cuts are partially justify set -- are necessary to partially offset the tax cuts. and the process was all up or down, one vote, without any choices. maybe we didn't need to extend all the tax cuts. maybe we could have ex-tened some but not all and avoided cuts in head start and food inspectors and firefighters and those kinds of things. we didn't make the choice step by step. it was all, we have to extend the tax cuts in order to preserve those tax cuts we're making cuts in medicare and social security and pell grants and head start, clean water grants, poison control, and on and on. it's in that context that these cuts are so regrettable. mr. garamendi: if i might, my good colleague from virginia, on the floor today it was perfectly clear that the republicans are refusing to even consider any increases in taxes or the elimination of tax

breaks on oil, on corporations that send jobs overseas, it's no. on the high end, the hedge fund managers that have $1 billion of income, know they're going to -- let me -- mr. scott: on that point if we do nothing and let thement -- and let them expire, we're not talking about new tax cuts, we just let them expire, we have enough deficit reduction on the table to match simpson boles. -- simpson-polse. -- bowles. mr. garamendi: i see our colleague from texas is back so please, if you would, then i'll turn to our colleague from texas. ms. sutton: i want to say one more time because i know the people i represent in northeast ohio are just waiting for this congress to demonstrate they don't want government on their backs, but they do want government on their side.

how do we show that we're on their side? we focus on the issue that matters to them the most. all they want is a chance. they want a chance at that american dream. and how do we do that? we do that by focusing on jobs. and we do that by focusing on this agenda to make it in america. what does that mean? it means policies that make sense regarding trade. instead of fighting to protect companies as the republicans are through this whole default debacle, instead of protecting those companies that ship jobs overseas, we want to level the playing field to allow our manufacturers and workers to fairly compete because we know that they are the best in the world and given a chance, a fair chance, they will not only compete, they will out-compete anybody in the world. we need tax policies that make

sense. we need to focus on not only manufacturing but building our infrastructure. the world is working on building their infrastructure and here we are, we heard the cuts that are going on, aimed at our infrastructure, it is time. it is past time that we turn to the hard work of putting america back to work. because while we have a jobs deficit, we don't have a deficit of work that needs to be done. let us get away from this risk of default, let us settle the matter, allow america to pay its bills because if we don't, guess what? we're going to lose even more jobs. economists tell us we'll lose 700,000 more jobs if america defaults. we don't want to go in that direction. we want to go in the direction that allows our workers, our companies, and our country to make it, make it in america. mr. garamendi: and there's the voice from the stall part of the heart of america, from the

great state of ohio. we know that america can make it. this is still the greatest manufacturing center in the world. and part of our jobs agenda on the democratic side is what we call make it in america. ms. sutton, you very quickly pointed out several elements in there, let me -- i put this up while you were talking so we could think about it. trade policy, we can't give away jobs on trade policy. tax, we talked about tax issues, corporations getting tax breaks for going offshore. energy, we need energy security. we can't afford to continue to pay all our hard-earned dollars to the petro dictators of the world. we need a domestic energy policy, a clean energy policy, millions, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of jobs. labor policies, we talked about education our kids. bobby rush from virginia talked about the cuts in the republican budgets when we need to educate and re-educate and

prepare our labor force in education. in this budget that they just put forward, are tremendous cuts to the pell grants that allow kids to go to school. research, again, bobby you talked about the research cuts and the infrastructure we talked about several times. this is all part of our agenda. this is how we're going to build america. how the american dream can become a reality once again by making the critical investments on the public side, bringing the private side along. i know that texas likes to say everything is great in texas but i talked to our colleague, sheila jackson lee, many times we talk to you on the floor, an it's not all perfect. could you share with us the view from texas? ms. jackson lee: the gentleman from california is very kind for leading this effort, i'm delighted to be here, we really got a regional, national perspective here. the gentleman from colorado, from connecticut, the gentlelady from ohio, and of course the gentleman from new

york and the gentleman from virginia, mr. scott, and texas. texas is a big state. and i heard a colleague on this side of the aisle say that texas has got all kinds of articles to talk about how great a state it is. it's a great state. but when you don't spend money on people, you wind up like texas, being 4 rd in education. or you wind up having the state with the largest number of individuals without health insurance. and so, i join my colleagues today because i truly believe standing on this side of the chamber that there's an opportunity for bipartisanship. but yet, we have individuals who have been influenced by signs that say no surrender. no surrender. those words are more appropriate for our founding fathers as they stood against oppression.

no surrender. these words are not appropriate against the american people. that we won't surrender, no matter what happens to the american people, we in this congress are so influenced by voices that truly do not have the concept of invest and grow and they don't have the concept of make it in america. what a wonderful statement about the greatness of america. not no surrender but make it in america because america is not broke. and the voices of negativism that would propose legislation that would have us cut without investment, cut without revenue, means we surrender on the american people. i wanted to mention that we haven't said what is happening to local government. here's a major headline that says, states feel pain over debt impasse. we all come from the people. outside of the beltway. and what is happening to the

states is that the markets are being troubled, i had a press conference and meeting with my city comptroller who -- whose investments are in treasury notice. it's not just what we do here on the floor of the house. our cities will have a troubled economic infrastructure if the treasury notice that they have invested in all of a sudden drop with severe, if you will, losses. so i wanted to say that this is more than just us. it is more than one person in a leaky boat. it is many of us in a leaky boat. just the last 48 hours the dow went down 200 points in the last 12 hours, coming in to today, the asian markets and our markets have seen a dramatic drop and as you well know, we were here until 11:00 at night trying to wait until the conference in essence got

itself together. so let me just say that the debt ceiling from my perspective should be a clean one. we should go forward with innovation, investment and balance cutting. we should preserve our medicare, medicaid and social security. and finally, let me say this. if the states are being troubled now, and people are being influenced by the language or the words no surrender, can you imagine what happens when six months from now, the bill that passed with no democrats, we would come back again to the american people, tell them to be fearful about medicaid, medicare, social security, tell our students they might not have pell grants for the second semester, tell people in the midst of buying a house that their interest rates will skyrocket because we'll be back again trying to debate the debt ceiling and if -- and if various draconian measures are not passed such as balanced budget amendment by 3/5 or 2/3,

we'll have another default. we need to be focusing on what is good about america, make it in america, invest, innovate and grow and have mutual balanced sacrifice, that's what will make us great. i yield back to the gentleman. mr. garamendi: thank you very much. we have about 10 minutes left, and i'd like to do lightning rounds. if each one of us, my colleagues, you have been so eloquent tonight, why don't we all do a wrap, do about a minute and we'll just pass it around. let's start with the great state of new york, the east coast first. mr. tonko: let me just say that the challenge for america to pay her bills, many of those bills accrued before this administration, it's not a republican challenge or a democratic challenge, it's an american challenge. the default crisis that is challenging our economy, threatening our economy, is not a republican crisis, not a democratic crisis, it's an american crisis. the jobs crisis is not a republican crisis. a democratic crisis.

it's an american crisis. you get the message. we need to come together, not farther apart. i represent what i like to call the original tech valley, the erie canal barge canal were hosted in the -- in my district. it provided for west wad movement. milltowns were the cent of innovation that same pioneer spirit is in our d.n.a. at the present day today. if we invest as we know we should, we will grow jobs, we'll respond to the jobs cree sis, we'll create revenues, we'll cut spending required when unemployment rises and solve many crises. i have seen the region i represent grow per capita, in per capita management to be the number one green collar job growth region in the country. that happened because of federal investment and state investment and let's just make it in america and do sound policy that is bringing us together and not dividing us as the leadership of this house

has done with their approach. mr. garamendi: let's move to the great state of virginia in tidewater country. mr. tonko -- -- mr. scott: thank you, mr. garamendi. the other side of the aisle is quick to say you cannot raise taxes in the middle of an economic downturn. the next thing they say is we need to cut spending. spending cuts have a much larger impact on employment because when you have an agency and you cut funding, you cut the budget, people get fired. immediately. there's a more immediate effect than tax cuts which you don't pay until later on. it has a larger effect. when we tart talking about the jobs, these cuts will have an adverse effect on jobs. we need to focus on jobs first. we wouldn't be going through this kind of attack on our economy, on medicare, on our education program, if it had

not been for the threat to shut down the economy. this threat is unprecedented. we need to pay our obligations. we cannot default and it's actually manufactured because never in american history has there been any serious effort to fail to pay our obligations as we're going through this past few days. we need to increase the debt ceiling the same way we've done it every year, sometimes twice a year, on average about once a year, sometimes twice a year, over the last 50 years, just increase the debt ceiling. we should not be jeopardizing, we should not be having all this uncertainty in the markets with what's going on here today. as the saying goes, just do it. mr. garamendi: indeed, we do. if we're going to have the american dream continue to be a reality we've got a lot of work to do. got to put the american people back to work. and we'll have to deal with the deficit, that'll take us a while to do it.

mr. courtney, you pointed out how we got into the deficit, please, if you have some final thoughts. mr. courtney: i know and every one of us here knows there are a lot of older americans watching this debate extremely closely, worried about the social security check at the beginning of next month, worried if their medicare will be there. we all understand it is our solemn duty to protect a program that just celebrated its 45th anniversary, medicare, which has made a difference in terms of every single one of us, in terms of our parents and fwrarntes and we understand that we are not going to allow this political bullying effort to use the tool of the default as a device to butcher the medicare program and that is a solemn pledge which i know every single one of us believes in and we are going to fight until this episode is over to make sure we protect the basic components of retirement

security for seniors in america which is social security and medicare. mr. garamendi: how about the view from colorado? mr. perlmutter: i say and i thank my friend from california, the view from colorado is, there's a lot of pushing and pulling back here. and i would call upon my moderate friends in the republican party, if there are any anymore, to stop this tomfoolery. no longer can we put the full faith and credit of the united states at risk. i mean, we do have a duty to preserve and protect our constitution and the full faith and credit of this country is referred to at least three times , you know, in the article about congress and the full faith and credit section of the constitution and then in the 14th amendment, we pay our debts, we pay our bills. so i just say, you know, the president has proposed a solid, long-term fiscal plan, took us

10 years to get into this financial mess from the time we had a surplus under bill clinton and it will take us several years to right ourselves but we can do it, this is america. and then -- not and then, as we're doing that we really do have to focus on making sure that people who play by the rules, who are responsible and hardworking have a shot at getting advanced in this world and the best way to do that is through a good job, through making things in america. you know, for democrats, really, our formula is innovate, educate, rebuild this economy and rebuild our infrastructure and that will make this country strong and it will make colorado strong. we love our clean energy industry, that's a good place to start and with that i'd yield back to my friend from california. mr. garamendi: and from texas. sheila jackson lee. ms. jackson lee: thank you for allowing us to really talk about how great america is. i agree with you. and we are not broke.

chairman bernanke said, fast, undefined cuts will hamp were the cht economy and -- hamper the economy and he is nonpartisan, as chairman of the federal reserve, so what do we need to do? we need to look at our history. 20 million jobs were created under the democratic presidency of william jefferson clinton and then this president, with the american reinvestment act that we supported, three million jobs. we know how to do this. and what i would say to my friends is that we have the responsibility to be not any party but democrats are here to be for the american people and this weekend democrats will be the ones standing in the gap for the american people. i am proud of that and my last point is, there's no shame in taking care of the vulnerable. the last thing we want to do as we leave this place in these next couple of days with the debt ceiling in place as it should be is to leave behind us

seniors that may be thrown out of nursing homes because we didn't do what was right and so i say we can do it and we can do the debt ceiling in the way that creates jobs and protects the american people. i yield to the gentleman. mr. garamendi: thank you. and i'll do a wrap here and we'll be finished for this evening. unfortunately the work has not yet been completed. we do need to lift the debt ceiling, we can and it will be done one way or the other. the president has the ultimate authority under the 14th amendment of the constitution to simply order the treasury to pay the bills. all that's gone on here today will devastate the united states . it will devastate it. we've talked about part of this is a requirement that no more debt ceilings will be lifted until there's a constitutional amendment that requires a 2/3 or a 60% vote to do anything. that is guaranteed gridlock and the only thing that could take place on a majority vote would be cuts. think about that, america.

in order to raise taxes, in order to end the tax breaks given to the oil companies or to the rich barons on wall street it takes a 60%, a 2/3 vote. but to cut medicare, a majority vote. we're not going to let that happen. there's one place that the democratic party's going to stand and that is keep your hands off social security and medicare. no way, no how. i don't care, all of us -- i don't care all of the talk that goes on here, the bottom line is that is a fundamental building block foundation of this nation. it brought every senior out of poverty and there's not a family in america that doesn't depend upon social security and medicare for their parents. now, if you want that cut, you stay there with what the republicans are talking about. because there is no way that you could possibly carry out what they're proposing unless you go after medicare and social

security and medicaid. we will not let it happen. this is where we stand. it's not a line in the sand, it is etched into the very heart of the democratic party. with that i yield back and i thank my colleagues for the evening. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that when the house adjourns today it adjourn to meet at noon tomorrow and further when the house adjourns on that day it adjourn to meet at 1:00 p.m. on sunday, the 31st of july, 2011. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. under the speaker's announced policy of january 5, 2011, the gentleman from florida, mr. west, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.

mr. west: thank you, mr. speaker. free markets, free enterprise, innovation and entrepreneurship are the foundation for economic growth and job creation in america. for the past four years democrats in washington have enacted policies that undermine these basic concepts which have historically placed america at the forefront of the global marketplace. as a result most americans know someone who has recently lost a job and small businesses and entrepreneurs lack the confidence needed to invest in our economy. not since the great depression has our nation's unemployment rate been this high for this long. enough is enough. more taxation, regulation and litigation will not create more jobs. government takeovers of the economy have failed while the size and scope of the federal government has exploded. washington has tied the hands of small business owners and job

creators with onerous regulations and backward fiscal policies that have stalled the economy. slowed innovation -- economy, slowed innovation and destroyed job jobs -- and de-- and destroyed jobs. we need to give people confidence in our economy and to remove washington as the roadblock to job creation. america is at a crossroads and house republicans are committed to taking every possible step to spur private sector job creation and get our economy back on track so that americans can do what they do best -- create, innovate and lead. tonight my colleague and i will convey the frustration of small business owners and those who have received the bad end of the stick of horrible policies created by the obama administration. at this time i yield to the gentleman from arizona, my friend and colleague, mr. swike

earth. swikeswike mr. speaker, mr. west, -- mr. schweikert: mr. speaker, mr. west, thank you. one of the reasons for me asking for time tonight is one of these days i'm supposed to come here to the floor and we're putting together a presentation of the medicare actuary report, to walk people through, both our citizens and our fellow members here, the reality of the numbers. but there's so much rhetoric on the floor today and even over the last couple of hours that it became one of those -- it was time to come back here to the floor, these are some slides that we use about a week ago -- used about a week ago and it was my great frustration because how do you manage a government, how do you engage in this political process when you're operating under mathematical folk lore? we're living in a fantasyland, when you see members walk up to that microphone, look the public in the eye through that camera

and say, if we would just get rid of those incentives to buy corporate jets, if we would just tax big oil, it's the millionaires and billionaires. so one more time, we're going to actually walk through a little bit of mathematical reality so we might be able to start having an argument, a debate, a discussion that has some basis of fact instead of basis in, i'm going to say whatever's necessary from this microphone to get re-elected. tanned breaks my heart, but in my seven months here i think that happens an awful darn lot. so, first off, ok, let's actually -- a quick sample of where we're at today. that's a dollar bill. do you see this first part? that's 42%. so 42 pennies of every dollar this federal government is spending today is borrowed. that's why this debate that we're going through right now is so much more than just the debt ceiling and how much more our borrowing capacity is.

it's the fact we're buried in debt and we are crashing, being crushed under that weight. if you go and read the s&p letters and the moody's letters, it's so much more than raise the debt ceiling or you might get downgraded, it's you're going to get downgraded unless there's a credible plan to demonstrate how you intend to bend this debt curve. that's the real debate around here. that's what you were seeing the republicans passionately try to discuss with the american people. and with our brothers and sisters from the other side. that this was so much more than raising the debt ceiling. it was a discussion about saving this republic. so, if you have a republic, this government borrows 42 pennies out of every dollar we spend, how long do you think that's

going to last? so what sort of rhetorical things do we get to hear around here? well, let's actually now do a little analysis on a couple of them. how many of you in the last 24 hours, either in the gallery or here on the floor with me or my good friend, mr. west have heard members walk up to microphones, shake their hands and say, no more subsidies for those corporate jets? ok, maybe they're right. but let's actually do the math. we borrow about $4.7 billion every single day and that whole piece of rhetoric which i know has been tested through polling and focus groups so it is all about politics and campaigning and not the truth to the american people is 15 seconds of that borrowing every day. so one more time, we borrow 4ds.7 billion every single day and the rhetoric you hear about those depreciation on the corporate jets, we need to take that away, even if it were

something sensible, it's 15 seconds a day. ok, so you nod your head and say, all right, if we got rid of it, great. but that's 15 seconds a day. so let's go on to the next bit of rhetoric we are hearing today. big oil. we need to take away those subsidies, those incentives to go out and find more oil. well, let's do this. what if the math were, we're going to take away those subsidies from all oil, all fossil fuels, not just big oil? well, we borrow $4.7 billion a someday, it's $2.44 billion a year. well, that equates to a good 2.2 minutes of borrowing a day. so far the two prime bits of rhetoric we heard here today equal 15 seconds, 2.2 minutes of borrowing and this is the type of solution we keep getting from the left. and the reason we're getting those types of solutions, it's because it's test thrude

polling. it's easy for the public to understand, even though it's horribly untrue -- untruthful to the public that's actually trying to get their heads around the scale of this problem. so let's actually go on to one of the other ones we heard today. how about those millionaires and those billionaires? those bush tax extensions. all right, let's first be honest. the bush tax extensions, they're actually the bush-obama tax extensions because president obama did sign the extension in december. if you were to take away those tax extensions, for every american, not just those millionaires and billionaires, what does it buy you? ok, remember, once again,er would borrowing $4.7 billion a day, it would buy you a good 28 minutes of borrowing. so this rhetoric we hear from the president and around here, i know it may politically be

wonderful and it's politically easy to digest but mathematically it just isn't the truth. and it doesn't lead you to a solution. because think of this one more time. time. the depreciation on jets.